


Grim Curiosity

by ChaoticPumpkin



Category: One Piece
Genre: A bit of Magic, Eventual Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2020-01-09
Packaged: 2021-01-05 12:23:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21208481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaoticPumpkin/pseuds/ChaoticPumpkin
Summary: Grimm Mara is a very curious girl with a very curious heritage. Mara never knew exactly what she was. All her life she had been told she was some kind of human-mink hybrid, but after she had received a letter and journal from her mother specifically saying she was not a mink-- nor devil fruit user, she figured it was high time to ditch the orphanage she lived in and figure out how to translate her mother's journal! Now five years later she's finally reached Saboady, ready to head to Punk Hazard to find the key to the journal. What will she encounter? Join Mara as she discovers what the hell she really is?!





	1. Chapter One

Chapter One

Sabaody Archipelago. Nearly two years had passed since the War of the Best. The members of the worst generation were scattered about the new world now, with the exception of the Straw Hats, whom no one had heard from since the war. Not that it mattered to Mara, though. Currently she was getting tossed on her ass out of the hotel she had been staying at.  
“Please don’t come back,” The matron of the Shellfish Hotel hisses as she tosses a tattered book at the girl on the ground in front of her.  
“Oi! How was I supposed to know that potion would cause an allergic reaction!” Mara exclaims. 

The matron grits her teeth, trying to keep her calm. “It turned my husband’s skin _ green.” _

“Yeah, but you gotta admit his skin is _ really _ smooth now.”

“He lost all of his hair!”  
“Hair can grow back!”

“Get lost, mutt!” The matron yells, throwing a blue backpack at Mara. Mara growls in response, grabbing her book and her bag before trudging away. “How was I supposed to know the geezer was allergic to a kelp-based potion. They asked _me_ for the potion! And the potion did what it was intended to do! His skin is super smooth!” She grumbles, then scratches the back of her head, looking back towards the hotel. “...At least until the potion wears off.”  
After making a decent distance away from the hotel, which wasn’t even that great of a hotel, Mara stops and takes a seat at the base of a small tree. She looks around and once she determines she’s alone she pulls out her leather-bound book and removes her straw floral sun hat to give her ears some movement room.

Almost immediately she hears a very, very familiar phrase: “Are those real?” asks a passerby.

Mara looks up at the man, her ears twitching in irritation, “Yes. Tail, too. Now go away.” Attached to her head and in place of human ears were a pair of wolf ears. And yes, attached to her butt was a long black tail. All her life, Mara was told she was a mink-human hybrid. It made sense, with the wolf ears and tail and moon-swings every full moon. But that didn’t explain the other things that happened to her. Setting things on fire, encasing an entire building in absolute darkness-- that sort of stuff. She was hoping her mother’s journal would finally answer her questions.

The passing man frowns at Mara’s response, hoping for a kinder answer from a curious looking girl. The blue-eyed raven-haired wolf-girl gave him a stare that said if looks could kill he’d be dead ten times over. He left her alone.  
Grumbling, Mara replaces her hat on her head and brings her knees to her chest. Next she takes a look at the leatherbound journal she had originally gotten out of her bag. It was an old journal and a majority of it was in a language Mara didn’t understand. The first page of the journal was a letter from her late mother, a woman she had never actually met. It was some bullshit letter about how Mara was a very special girl and that her mother loved her very much blah blah blah you are not a monster blah blah blegh. The letter also explained how to translate the first part of the journal. Something about absorbing energy left over after a grand battle. Whatever that means. She had received the journal about five years ago as she celebrated her 16th birthday at a little orphanage on an island near Flevance.

Bringing herself back to reality, Mara sighs and places the book back in her bag. No point in reading it anyways. Her plan was to travel to Punk Hazard, where there had been a large battle between the two navy admirals Akainu and Aokiji. According to rumors they had changed the entire landscape of the island itself and, well… it was least to say Mara was curious about the structure of the island and how it looked. First, however, she needed to make it past the giant red wall and that meant either going through Fishman Island or dealing with the navy and world government. The latter option wasn’t that big of an issue, honestly. Sure Mara got into some trouble before, but it wasn’t like she had a bounty on her head. She just hated the world government. So now she had to decide whether or not to risk traveling to Fishman Island or sneak past the government’s security over the giant red wall.

Mara checks her bag. She was good on provisions and her miniature alchemy set was full of simple ingredients for simple potions like the one she had used on the hotel matron’s husband, but she really had hoped for more. She chews on her lip as she looks at her small supply of reagents. Too simple. None of the potions created from the supplies she currently had would make anything interesting. Just a few stamina and heal-assisting potions. And the green-skin-hair-loss potion, but she had used all her kelp for that. Before setting off, Mara needed to add more to her stock and learn some info on what her next course of action was. Fishman Island or government staircase. Either way, she’d need a boat of some kind. But first, reagents.

Hopping to her feet, Mara fixes her hat and brushes the dirt off her butt before jaunting along to find herself some alchemical ingredients. She had already collected a decent sample of the resin from the ground itself, as well as a small bubble she trapped in a tiny bottle. She had already examined them in the hotel and used it in a potion. It’s what made the grumpy guy’s skin super smooth! Okay, so maybe he probably _ wasn’t _ allergic to anything, she was just curious to see how a skin dye mixture would react with the resin and a few other things. But the hotel matron and her husband didn’t need to know that. She made her way to the shopping district.

\--------

The shopping district was bustling with activity. People shouted out their deals and bargains, doing their best to draw in as many customers as possible. One salesman called out to Mara as she passed by, “You there! Pretty lady! We have pretty-smelling perfumes for such a lovely-looking woman!”  
Mara pauses and scrunches her nose, “Perfumes aren’t my thing. I am, however, curious as to what you use in them.”

The man, ignoring her first comment, beams as he begins to describe each and every one of his specialty perfumes. One smelled of roses and made the skin smooth as silk. Another was supposedly “Sea breeze” scented.

“Yeah, yeah, those are great, but what is _ in _ them. Like, do you have any failed perfumes you can’t sell because the mixture went wrong?” Mara questions.

The man gives her a strange look, “Um, no, miss. We usually throw those out. We’d never sell defective products to customers.”

Mara frowns, sticking her lip out in a pout, “Shame. Hey do you know where I could find any alchemical supplies?”

“Erm… No, miss, I-I mean, if you’re looking for medical supplies you could try the apothecary..?” The man offered.

Mara leans in close to the man. “Directions.”

“Just over at the edge of the shopping district!” The man explains, uncomfortable with Mara’s closeness, “Just look for the panda shaped building!”

Mara backs up, a smile on her face. “Thank you for your cooperation. Maybe try an apple-scented perfume. Those are always the best.”

The man watches her as she makes her way towards the Happy Panda Apothecary.

Mara quickly makes her way to the bear-shaped building, her nose as her guide. She didn’t know why she didn’t just try to sniff the place out before, the stench was almost un-_ bear _-able! Mara snickers. Un-bear-able. She slips into the little shop, laughing at her own terrible joke. 

The Happy Panda Apothecary was a nice little building in the shape of a giant winking panda head. The cashier was dressed in panda-themed attire, too. Mara looks around the room in wonder, “I wonder if there’s any ivy… Oh! Hemlock!”

Her blue eyes sparkled with curiosity and wonder as she browses the different alchemical reagents. She scratches her chin, then turns to the proprietor of the store, hands clasped together with a bright smile on her face, “Do you sell mandrake root?”

The proprietor pauses, unsettled by the look in her eyes, “No. If you’re looking for narcotics try the apothecary in the more… lawless zones. You know mandrake is--”

“Poisonous. It can cause hallucinations, blah blah blah. I’m just curious to see how it would react with a few things. How much for this hemlock?” 

“200 Berries.”

“Only if you give me directions to that other apothecary.” Mara grins, her eyes wide.

The man sweats. “I really shouldn’t. I don’t want such a pretty lady to get hurt over in that terrible place…”

Mara moves closer, her tail wagging from its hiding place in her skirt. “I’ll be fine. Directions and hemlock, please!”  
The man leans over, noticing the movement coming from this strange woman’s skirt, “Very well… It’s over in Grove 3, but you really shouldn’t--”

“Shouldn’t go over there because it’s dangerous, got it. Here are the berries, bye!” Mara shoves the berries into the man’s hands before running off with her purchase. Curiosity glitters in her eyes as she stuffs the hemlock safely and securely into her alchemy bag while she runs. She was really hoping this apothecary had mandrake of any kind. It was just _ so fun _ to mix into potions. She was _ so _ going to make a hallucinogenic splash potion later.

‘‘Oi. You saw it too, right? She’s got a tail. Think it’s real?’’A sleazy little man whispered through a mask to a lanky gentleman beside him, both watching the wolf-girl run. 

The lanky guy nods, “Oh you know it. Manny asked her earlier. He saw her weird ears and he said she said the ears _ and _ tail was real.”

“You thinkin she’s a mink in disguise?” Little sleazy man responds, hopping up and down like a child.

“Maybe. Gotta at least be a special lady. Could get us some big berries!” The lanky man licks his lips, “Let’s follow her.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading the first chapter of Grim Curiosity! This is only the beginning and yes, we will eventually be meeting some of the show's main characters! There is plenty more to come so just you wait! Also I've never written a fanfic before so bare with me.  
Thanks!  
(Ps I like feedback)


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hic! The guests look around at each other with confused expressions. Hic! Hiccup! Hiccup-hic! The confusion spread, people covered their mouths. Mara grins behind her mask, listening to the growing cacophony of hiccups. The smoke from the vial quickly spread across the room, filling the lungs of everyone in the room.

Chapter Two

“The _ Angry _ Panda Apothecary. Huh.” Mara stands in front of a building in the shape of an angry bear’s head. It was quite a contrast to the Happy Panda place. Mara wonders if the two owners are related. She walks through the door, a little bell dings signaling her presence. She sneezes upon entering the central room, a rancid and musky smell running through her nose. With a wicked grin, Mara follows her nose. She taps her fingers together in a rather menacing style. Warning signs and cautions ignored, she picks through different narcotics, poisons, and reagents until she has a rather large haul. The proprietor of the apothecary watches her with concern. She sets her reagents on the counter in front of him, “Check please!” The man sweats profusely.

After about an hour of haggling with the store’s proprietor, the curious wolf exits the store with a decent amount of reagents. She could barely contain her excitement. “Maybe there’s a _ little _ time for experiments…” She rushes to an abandoned building before getting out her mini alchemy lab and getting to work. In the distance the two men from before watch her with greedy eyes.

An hour passes, then another. The two human traffickers wait impatiently, thinking the girl is busy getting high with all the narcotics she just bought. “Oi, let’s move now.” The lanky man begins to move, the sleazy little man follows and says, “Dumb bitch is probably high as a kite by now. Let’s hope she didn’t overdose. I saw some pretty powerful shit she was checkin out.”

Lanky snickers, “Yeah. Maybe we can take it for ourselves.” Sleazy titters and grins wickedly. The two round the corner to where Mara is. The wolf-girl hadn’t spotted them yet and they had a full view of her ears and tail. She had clipped her skirt up as to not trip over it, and her hat hung on a branch sticking out of a tattered and crumbling wall. She was in the remains of what appeared to be someone’s old house. There was moss and ivy climbing up the walls and over the remains of a red couch. One wall held stairs that were in surprisingly good condition, however they lead to a floor that no longer existed. Closer to Mara was a few worn picture frames, the faces they held long blinded by the sun. Mara herself was seated on a chunk of stone wall. Whatever she had in front of her was sitting on a broken kitchen table that appeared to be missing a leg and had another leg replaced with a normal stick. The two men couldn’t see what Mara was doing from their position, but they did see a test tube rack almost completely filled with test tubes of various colors.

Mara stretches, releasing a loud yawn. She places another test tube in the rack, filling the final slot. It was an alarmingly blue color and the vial itself seemed to vibrate. Satisfied, Mara finishes her notes and starts to clean her tools. Mid swipe of a beaker she pauses, ears twitching. All of a sudden the two men who had been watching her jump out from their hiding places with loud shouts. Mara yelps and skitters out of the way. “Watch the table, watch the table!!” She shouts. The men skid to a halt, the little man briefly bumping into the rickety table. The stick leg shifts slightly. Mara freezes, staring at the test tubes. Her trance is broken when the lanky man swings at her with a large net. She sputters and dips out of the way, just barely avoiding the net. “I said be careful! Do you have any idea what would happen if those liquids mixed!? Cuz I sure as hell don’t!” Mara yells. She appears more angry than frightened and certainly not at all concerned that these men seem to be trying to capture her.

“Come here you little _ freak _ !” The lanky man shouts. Mara growls, jumping over to the table and grabbing a vial of brown, “How’s this for freaky? My hypothesis is that this potion will make you itch like _ crazy _. It will feel like you have thousands of bugs crawling all over your skin!” She pops the cork and jumps at the lanky man. She splashes the potion at him, but he swipes her away, a majority of the liquid hitting rock. A few specks latch onto his skin and the skin turns bright red. Lanky twitches and his opposite hand starts to reach up to scratch his arm. He clearly is trying hard to repress the desire to scratch his arm. “Snap out of it!” Sleazy yells, smacking his friend. The lanky man shivers and takes a few deep breaths. 

Meanwhile, Mara had grabbed another vial. She chucks the whole thing at the tiny man. Unfortunately for the man, he had just turned his attention back to her. The bottle hits its mark and shatters in his face. A yellow-and-orange liquid covers his face and seeps into the injuries caused by shattered glass. The man starts to scream. His face sizzles and starts to bubble before settling. “It’s not often I get to play with such fun ingredients. Did I mention these all have some kind of hallucinogenic effect to them? Oooh, our tall friend here seems to be noticing it…” Mara grins wickedly. The small man’s screams had stopped and instead he was grinning like an idiot, “And that’s number two.” She picks up the net they had used and tests it in her hand, “Huh. Sea prism infused. Got a nice heft to it. Welp!” She lifts the thing above her head before swinging it down on the two men, knocking them out cold. Good thing, too. Lanky was just starting to dig into his skin, the itch becoming too intense to bare.

Mara drops the net over the two men before brushing off her hands and turning back to the table. With a sigh she finishes cleaning up and takes a look at the four remaining vials. The vial with the blue liquid seemed to have settled down some, but there were still a couple of bubbles. She pouts. These guys were too weak and didn’t put up much of a fight. She assumed they would do better considering they were trying to sell her at that human auction she had heard about. 

_ You know... _ Mara ponders, _ I could probably test my potions on the auctioneers… Get a few extra berries… Free some people. _Mara grins. She pulls one of the test tubes from the rack, one with a clear liquid, then carefully puts the rest away in her portable alchemy lab. She lifts the tiny man before uncorking the bottle and holding it up to his nose. With a sniff and a sneeze the man wakes up, clearly still drugged. “Wha… Didwe getter?” He babbles, slurring over his words. His eyes swirl around in different directions, unsure of what to focus on. Mara snickers, trying to mimic the lanky man’s voice as best as she can. “Yes, you did. But now you’ve got to get to the auction house. I dunno where the place is. Looks like you can’t move, neither, so just lemme know where ta go.” The sleazy man sniffs, “Yea, okay. Head to uh… Grove uh…” He pauses, his eyes going blank. 

Mara frowns and shakes the man, “What grove, stupid.”

“Grove uh… One!” 

As soon as Mara had her answer she drops the man and returns the vial she had used to the rack with the rest. She takes out her notebook and a pen and starts to make notes while she walks. The walk from Grove 3 to 1 takes no time at all and, like the tiny man said, the auction house is very obvious. As are the people entering the place. Her ears twitch beneath her hat. She could just _ smell _ the pompousness just radiating off of these people here. Mara walks towards the back of the building. Front entrances were for pompous assholes. Cool wolf-girls always snuck in the back.

So to the back entrance she went. At the back door there were two very burly men guarding the way as well as a few other employees enjoying a smoke break. The area was covered in the shadow of the building, the sun starting to set. Perfect. Mara always found herself stronger in the dark. Plus she had this particular… ability. Often times when people witness it their immediate thought is the power of the dark-dark fruit, but that was currently in the possession of Blackbeard. Mara had the unusual ability to manipulate darkness. She couldn’t command it as Blackbeard could, but her powers were similar. A very useful aspect of her powers was the ability to walk through shadows. And a shadow covered back door was the perfect opportunity for practice.

Mara presses her back against the wall of the building before peering around the corner at the door. There were five people total. Two guards and three regular employees enjoying a smoke. She didn’t know if the other side of the door had a shadow to slip in to so her best bet was to wait for the smokers to return inside and hitch a ride through the door. She waits patiently for someone to toss their cigarette. When one of the employees stretches and snuffs out the butt of the cigarette, Mara jumps into action. She presses further against the shadows of the wall and keeps pressing into the wall until she seems to melt into it. Safe and hidden in the shadows she starts to glide along the wall and to the door, waiting for it to be opened. Within seconds all three of the employees make their way inside, allowing a very curious girl into their building unannounced. 

Mara sits comfortably in the shadow of one of the employees, a pretty woman with alarmingly red hair. While passing a wall, Mara slides from the woman’s shadow to a shadow of a box sitting against the wall. She figured here would be good enough to leave the safety of the shadows. Mara waits a couple of minutes for the hall to clear. Somewhere down the hall she could hear an announcer. Looks like she had showed up at just the right time. Originally, Mara had come here to test her potions, cause some chaos, free some slaves, all for the heck of it. Now that she was in here though she felt this… dark energy. A mournful gloom pressed down on her shoulders, making Mara feel uncomfortable. She was determined to cause extra chaos now. 

She reaches into her bag and pulls out a mask. Half of the mask is black, stopping at the middle. The other half is white with a blood red heart where the eye would be. The most notable thing about this mask is there are no eye holes. Mara’s face twists into that of determination and distraught. She brings the mask to her face and hesitates, then puts it on. The mask seems to stick into place as a perfect fit. The center of the red heart lights up with a bright teal light, like an iris. Her hair wisps like smoke as soon as the mask is in place. Mara sighs and enters the room in front of her.

Upon entering the room three employees snap their heads towards her. Mara dashes forward. A rather grizzly looking woman turns to the wolf-girl and pulls out a gun, which Mara quickly smacks away. She throws three quick punches to the side of the woman’s arm. With a stifled shout the woman bends forward and collapses on the ground. Mara places a foot on her back and leans down, picking up a ring of keys. “What did you--!?” The second employee, a skinny blond man, runs forward toward Mara, drawing a knife from his belt. The third man, one of the three from earlier who were outside smoking, starts to turn on his heels and get to the door. Mara growls and makes another dash forward. She shoves past the blond man, pushing him to the ground. In a moment she is on the scared smoker. She raises her right hand and with a swift chop to the neck, the man is out cold. Mara drops his body and lets it crumble to the floor, then turns to face the last remaining man. Her ears twitch towards a sound behind her. The auction was about to begin. She needed to be quick.

“Come here, you little brat!” Shouts the smoker. Mara frowns under her mask, the teal light on the mask narrowing with her eyes. She holds up the red vial from her most recent experiments and pops the cork. The man charges at her, unfazed by whatever the hell she had in her hand. Good. Mara loved it when people underestimated her. Just a few more seconds and… Splash! Mara throws the liquid over the man and it quickly soaks him red. He freezes and stares at his hands, an expression of horror on his face. Mara takes her notebook out of her bag and clicks her pen, ready to take notes. 

The man gasps and starts to gag. He claws at his throat and begins to panic even more when the skin on his neck melts off onto his hands. Mara scribbles some notes, then puts her notebook away. The man can’t even make a sound. He, and the prisoners around them, watched in horror as his skin melted wherever the potion touched. “It won’t kill him,” Mara says to the room, “It’ll just… melt his skin is all.” She raises her hands in a shrug, then twirls the key ring around her finger and starts to unlock everything and everyone. 

“You’re a strange one, aren’t you?” A man with silver hair comments as Mara unlocks his handcuffs and collar. 

“What gave it away?” Mara replies. 

He rubs his wrist. “That was quite impressive, though, I am confused. You hit the woman’s arm, yet she passed out cold. Why?”

“Kyusho Jitsu.” Mara releases the shackles from a young woman’s wrists. She shrinks back in terror as Mara removes the collar, then makes a mad dash away from the wolf-girl as soon as she gets the chance. “Listen up,” Mara shouts, “I’ll cause a distraction in the main room, but from here on out you’re all on your own. Get your asses in gear or get captured again. Up to you.”

The silver man chuckles, “Interesting. I hear that is a difficult fighting style to learn.” 

Mara shrugs. “Yeah, yeah. Get moving old man. I’m not responsible for whatever happens to you all now.” 

The man grins and raises his hands. “Yes ma’am.” He joins the rest of the freed prisoners.

Once everyone had been freed, Mara could hear the sound of the auctioneer about to start the show. Time to test the next vial. She flips her hair behind her and pulls out the blue vial. Next, she makes her way to the door leading to the stage. She pauses at the door and uncaps the cork of the vial. With a swift motion she opens the door and enters the room, running to the center of the stage. The announcer and several other people gasp as she chucks the blue vial into the air until it is sent crashing down, shattering on the staircase. At first nothing happens. Everyone stares in bewilderment, either at Mara, or at the blue stain on the stairs that was starting to smoke.

_ Hic! _ The guests look around at each other with confused expressions. Hic! _ Hiccup _ ! Hiccup- _ hic _! The confusion spread, people covered their mouths. Mara grins behind her mask, listening to the growing cacophony of hiccups. The smoke from the vial quickly spread across the room, filling the lungs of everyone in the room. Well, almost everyone. A family of celestial dragons sat in the crowd. Fat and slimy celestial dragons, too. Mara has one potion left. She pulls it from her bag and gets ready to toss the vial. The celestial dragons stands, complaining loudly at the sounds and smells and confusion. They shout for guards to take down the masked woman, but the guards were too busy trying to quell their violent hiccups that had already caused several people to pass out from exhaustion and chest pains. Mara snickers. She loved it when a potion caused a minor inconvenience. Perpetual hiccups, constant sneezing, that kind of thing. 

She advances on the celestial dragons, one of which draws their gun. “Stay back you monster!” He shouts, “Your silly tricks will not reach us behind our masks, so just give up!” 

Mara stops, “And what, you’re going to shoot me with that shaky hand? You’d miss a target even if it was a foot from your face.” The man scrunches up his already crusty-looking face and cocks the gun, grabbing it with both hands. Mara pops the cork of the last vial, a bright green liquid. She pours the liquid onto her right hand. It moves more like molasses as it slides out of the bottle onto her palm. Once she has a decent glob, her hand begins to glow red and the slime lights up. The green liquid catches fire and begins to solidify. With a wicked grin hidden behind her mask, Mara chucks the green ball of fire at the celestial dragons. The man screams and fires his gun. 

The rest happens in quick succession. The bullet grazes Mara’s arm, the fireball hits the celestial dragon, the other members of the family jumping out of the way as the man catches fire. His bubble mask pops and now not only is the man on fire, but he has a horrible case of the hiccups as well. Mara springs forward over the heads of the crowd and makes a mad dash for the exit. By the time she bursts through the door the celestial dragon had managed to put the fire out. Mara frowns, then pours the remaining green liquid in a line in front of the exit before lighting it on fire with her hand and escaping into the fresh evening air. Now she just had to escape the area.

“Girl. This way.”

Mara turns toward the voice. It was the old man with the silver hair. “I know you’re not deaf. Hurry up. Attacking a Celestial Dragon wasn’t the smartest idea. Navy will be here soon and I don’t think you’re punches will be enough to stop them.” Mara hesitates, but follows after hearing commotion coming from the building. 

“Where are we going?” Mara asks. 

“Grove 13. My wife owns a bar over there.” The man replies. 

“And who are you exactly?” 

“Silvers. Silvers Rayleigh.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed chapter two! Mara's got a pretty interesting fighting type, don't you think?


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “And who might you be?” She asks, leaning on the bar.   
Mara pauses, unsure of whether or not to give her name. “My name is...Curiosity.”  
“Curiosity?” The woman repeats, raising an eyebrow.   
Mara nods. “It is a name I go by, at least.”   
The woman nods in reply. “Well then, Miss Curiosity, you can call me Shakky. And I’m sure you’ve been introduced to our Ray-san here.”

Chapter Three

Not a lot of time passes before they reach Grove 13. It was a silent walk to Shakky’s Rip-off bar which Mara was grateful for. She was confused as to who this man was and why he asked her to follow him. His name was vaguely familiar, but it wasn’t something she could put her finger on. So Mara ignored it.

“You can take off the mask, you know. Besides, you can’t actually see with it on, can you?” asks Silvers as they approach the bar. 

Mara stiffens, then removes the mask. “No, I can’t. I prefer it that way. See without seeing, you know?”

“A haki user, I see,” Silvers comments, opening the door for Mara. 

Mara furrows her brow. “People keep telling me about that, so that’s probably the case. I know about it, just don’t know much.” 

Mara steps into the bar and takes a quick look around, taking note of all of the exits. A woman stands with her back to the two on the other side of the bar. Silvers leans on the bar and smiles at the woman. “Hello, my dear.” 

The woman turns around, “Hello Ray. Is Straw Hat with you? It’s almost time for him and his crew to return, isn’t it?” 

Silvers chuckles, “Oh, I haven’t seen him for about six months.” The woman rolls her eyes, but doesn’t ask him any further questions. Instead she turns towards the curious looking girl who entered with Silvers.

“And who might you be?” She asks, leaning on the bar. 

Mara pauses, unsure of whether or not to give her name. “My name is...Curiosity.”

“Curiosity?” The woman repeats, raising an eyebrow. 

Mara nods. “It is a name I go by, at least.” 

The woman nods in reply. “Well then, Miss Curiosity, you can call me Shakky. And I’m sure you’ve been introduced to our Ray-san here.” 

Mara nods. “Yeah he was in the human auction house, which reminds me…” She turns to face Rayleigh. “Why am I here and why were you  _ there _ ?”

Rayleigh gives her a smile, “Oh, I was hoping to take the money from whoever bought me, then return here, but the chaos you caused let me leave a little early. And I figured you would need a place to hide out until the navy gives up their search. Now, what were  _ you _ doing there, Miss Curiosity?” 

Mara grins sheepishly and scratches her head, “To cause chaos!” Her response elicits a laugh from both Rayleigh and Shakky. 

“Is that so?” Shakky asks.

“Well, that and I had some potions I wanted to test out…” Mara adds sheepishly.

“Is that why all of the guests were hiccuping like mad-men?” Rayleigh asks.

Mara’s eyes glitter and she grins. Rayleigh chuckles.

Mara reaches up and touches her straw hat, which had miraculously managed to stay on her head this whole time. Her hand recoils slightly upon touching it and drops to her side. She still didn’t know if she could trust these people. She adjusts her skirt, doing her best to hide her tail. Shakky waves her hand in the air before turning back to the fridge to prep some drinks. “You’re safe here darling. Ray-san wouldn’t have brought you if he didn’t think you were trustworthy.”

“I am…  _ curious _ about that tail you’re hiding, though,” says Rayleigh, circling Mara. Mara flinches and holds her right hand to her chest, a low rumble emitting from her throat. Rayleigh chuckles. “Relax, I won’t harm you. You obviously have more to you than you let on.”

Mara watches him closely for a few moments before slowly removing her hat. She sets her hat and her bag on a nearby table, keeping her gaze away from Shakky and Rayleigh. It was difficult not to, however, when Rayleigh insisted on getting into her personal space to examine her ears and the side of her face, where human ears would normally be. Mara smacks his hand and shrinks away, ears pressing against her head. Rayleigh gives her an awkward smile, “Ah, sorry. I let my curiosity get the best of me. They just look so soft.” 

Mara frowns. “Sensitive, too. Don’t touch my ears.” 

Rayleigh sweats and puts his hands up in surrender. “Alright, alright. I’m sorry. So what is your devil fruit power? You obviously have something more going on than just your ears and tail, I saw your hand glow earlier and you lit that green stuff on fire.” 

Mara is silent for a while. She sits at the table with her bag and starts to go through her supplies. “Let’s go with a special class Zoan,” She finally says, “That’s all I can say because that’s all I’ve ever been told.” Rayleigh seems to want to question her further, but a look from Shakky shuts him up. 

“Well, Miss Curiosity--” Shakky begins. 

“Just Curiosity or Curie is fine,” Mara cuts in. 

Shakky nods, “Curie. How about I fix you up a drink?” 

Mara sweat drops. “Uhh... I appreciate the offer miss, but I can’t have alcohol.” 

Shakky raises an eyebrow, “There aren’t any age restrictions in my bar, you can drink if you’d like.” 

Mara shakes her head quickly, waving her hands in front of her face, “No, no. I mean I actually  _ can’t _ have alcohol. I’ve got the alcohol tolerance of a rat and it makes me feel sick. If you have any apples I’ll take that instead though!” 

Shakky furrows her brow, giving Mara a strange look. She turns to the fridge and pulls out a crisp red apple and tosses it to the wolf-girl. Mara’s eyes sparkle as she snatches the apple out of the air and munches on the delicious apple.

Shakky smiles at Mara, enjoying the girl’s enthusiasm. “So Curie, what brings you to Sabaody?” Shakky asks. 

“I’m headed into the New World. There’s something I need to find there. I’m hoping to head out in the next couple of days,” Mara responds, “I just need to figure out how to get over the wall… Fishman Island isn’t an option for me, there’s too big of a risk going that way on my own.” 

Rayleigh nods in agreement, “True. There have been some rumors about the fishman pirates, too. Do you know where you need to go?”  
Mara scratches her head and pulls out a newspaper clipping from her bag, “Ahh… I’m hoping to find Punk Hazard. There’s something there my mother wanted me to find.”  
“Punk Hazard?” Rayleigh parrots, “That place has been destroyed by the fight between the two admirals.” 

“So I’ve heard,” Mara responds, “But I still need to go there.” 

“I have some friends who will be showing up within the next month. If you don’t mind waiting, I’m sure they’d take you through Fishman Island. Especially if there’s adventure to be found.” Ray says with a grin.

“Ah, you mean Straw Hat and his crew?” Shakky asks with a gentle smile. 

Rayleigh nods. “I think Luffy would be more than willing to help. He’s got an interesting crew, for sure.”

Mara furrows her brow in thought. After a moment she speaks, “No, I need to leave as soon as I can. Too much time has passed already and I might have missed the window to find what I’m looking for. If that’s the case then I’ll need to start looking again.” 

Rayleigh leans back against the bar, “What is it you’re looking for?” 

Mara hesitates, her ears folding back, “I… I don’t know.” 

“You don’t know?” Ray repeats.

Mara nods and her nose wiggles, “I need to draw energy from a grand battle of some kind. That’s all I’ve got to go on.”

Rayleigh scratches his chin, “That’s very vague. Do you know why?”

“Nope.”

“Huh.”

The room goes quiet for a while. Shakky decides to go back to cleaning dishes and Rayleigh helps himself to a bottle of sake and the newspaper. “I suppose I could get you a boat. The New World is rather dangerous, though. I don’t recommend going alone.” 

Mara frowns, “I’ll be fine. Nothing will change if I die, I’ll just die a curious soul. Anyways, I plan on just sneaking past the marine customs. It’s pretty easy when you can literally walk through shadows. I’ll just need to get a boat and make my way to Punk Hazard.” Rayleigh folds his arms and walks over to her, taking a look at the newspaper article she had. It was stapled to the back of a poorly drawn map with directions to Punk Hazard. 

He sighs, “You’d best head out soon, then. If you’re lucky you’ll be able to slip through with the marines returning to their base on the Red Line after the little fiasco you created.” 

Mara grins, then puts away her things and stands, “I should get going now, then. If I can hitch a ride on a navy ship I can steal a boat and some food from them. I’m sure they won’t miss them.” 

She puts on her hat, “Thanks for the chat and the apple. I’ll be going now.”

Shakky gives her a smile and nods goodbye. Rayleigh looks like he’d like to say more, but waves goodbye. “Keep an eye out for the Strawhats when you get to the New World. If you’re lookin’ for a grand battle you’ll usually find them there.” Rayleigh says, holding the door for Mara. Mara nods in response. 

“Thanks,” She says, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

After saying goodbye to the two strange people, Mara hurries along to find the nearest marine-infested grove. Probably whatever grove was closest to the giant red wall. She takes off towards the giant red wall. After a little bit of getting lost and a whole lot of walking, Mara eventually stumbles upon a group of very tired marines led by a disgruntled looking man. Hopefully they would lead her over the wall.

The disgruntled man pauses and sighs, pulling out a transponder snail. The snail starts to ring until with a clink the line is answered: “Hello?” says the disgruntled man. 

“Commander. What is your status report?” responds the snail. Mara watches the interaction. She had seen the snails before and heard what they did, but it still confused her. 

“The Celestial Dragons have calmed down and are waiting to return home. We were unable to apprehend the masked woman, but there are still marines keeping an eye out for her. We’re heading to the Red Line to prepare a cart for the Celestial Dragons to take them home. After that we shall return to base.” 

The snail seems to nod. “Understood. Best not keep a Celestial Dragon waiting.” With a click the snail closes its eyes and the call ends. 

The commander sighs and rubs his temple. “Let’s get moving, men. I’d like to be home before dawn.” Before they move on, Mara slips into the shadow of a tree and enters the shadow of one of the marines. 

They walk for a long while. Mara rests comfortably in the shadows. Eventually they approach the wall and Mara senses that they start to ascend a set of stairs. She was enjoying a relaxing ride in the shadows of some sucker who failed to find her before. If only they knew. From what she heard and sensed, they had met up with the Celestial Dragons and were now being carried on palanquins. Mara was tempted to poke her head out of the shadows, to see what was going on around her, but it was too risky. So she waited and listened. And waited. And waited some more. She eventually got tired of waiting and slipped into the shadow of a different Marine. This one seemed to be moving faster. She waited a little longer, then found a nice large shadow to jump to. Feeling the shape of the shadow, she determined it to be the shadow of a building. After, again, more waiting, this time for the marines to leave, she exits the shadow and takes note of her surroundings. She was next to a brick road that seemed to lead back to the stairs. 

Mara raises her nose into the air and inhales deeply, searching for the stench of the sea on the opposite side of the Red Wall. She gets down onto her hands and knees, then rolls her hat up and puts it in her bag. She sighs and shakes her body. While she shakes, her skin is covered in shadows until it slowly starts to deform and reform in the shape of a black wolf-hound. Mara huffs and stretches, working out the kinks in her muscles. She still wore her backpack, but otherwise she looked like a solid black wolf-hound. She began to trot down the street, following the stench of marines and the ocean.

She passes by rows of cookie-cutter houses before a strong smell of sailors and boats hit her nose. With a sigh of relief Mara picks up her pace, following her nose towards the boats. Within a few minutes she casts her sights upon the other side of the Red Wall, down to the docks below. Mara’s tail wags. She wondered if she could just wander up to one of the boats as a dog and jump on board. Well, first she needed to find a proper boat. She begins to make her way down to the docks.

Mara hadn’t seen too many people during her walk to the docks, but once there she saw multiple patrols. In the distance she saw the beginning of a great fog beginning to roll in. Perhaps she could use it to her advantage. She trots out to a crossroads between a couple of buildings and the docks and sits. She sits and listens. Mara turns her head towards the alley behind and lolls her tongue out and lets out a bark. A man steps out of the alleyway, a rifle in hand. Mara behaves like an innocent dog and lets out another bark. The man watches her curiously, then reaches into his pocket and pulls out a tiny transponder snail. There was something familiar about this man, but Mara couldn’t put her finger on it. “It’s just a black dog,” The man says into the snail’s receiver, “Girl isn’t here. False alarm.” He returns the snail to his pocket and steps forward. Mara watches him closely, turning to face him properly. 

The man takes out a cigarette and holds it to his lips as he lights it. “You caused quite a lot of trouble back at the auction house. I had some investments in a few of those prisoners. Was hoping to take you there, too, you know.” Mara stands and stares at him silently. “Don’t play dumb, I know you’re the girl with the wolf ears, who freed those slaves. My partners couldn’t seem to handle you so now it’s my turn.” He steps out of the shadow of the alleyway and Mara notices he wears the colors of a Marine. She growls. She hated corrupt assholes like him. Mara’s body becomes engulfed in darkness as it shifts and lengthens. She reforms as a human again and takes a fighting stance. 

“People like you make me sick,” She growls. The man, who was named Manny, according to the embroidery on his sleeves, cocks his gun. Mara snarls at him, “Are you just going to stand there or are we going to fight?”

She lunges before he has the chance to shoot. Mara throws a punch towards his arm and he jumps back, smacking her with the gun. Mara stumbles back before lunging forward once more. She pushes forward with a punch and feigns down with a kick to his legs. Manny retaliates with a shove of his gun as he falls back. On the ground he aims and fires at Mara, who dodges the bullet and aims for a stomp on his leg. Manny spins out of the way and jumps to his feet, aiming the gun again. Mara growls low and waits. Manny cocks the gun once more and fires at her. She ducks and shoves the gun up and out of his hands before throwing it behind her. In the dark they hear a splash as the gun lands in the water.

Manny scowls and rolls up his sleeves, “Alright wolf-girl. Fists it is.” Mara grins and her eyes flash red. She springs at the wall beside Manny and disappears into the shadows of the wall. Manny growls at her and looks around at the shadows. “Quit hiding, bitch!” 

“As you wish,” Mara replies, springing from the shadows and clocking Manny in the head, knocking him to the ground. He shouts out and stumbles back. Mara’s ears twitch. There was shouting and the stampede of feet. People were running towards their area. Probably more Marines. She growls. Manny grins. While she is distracted he grabs her arm and she howls in pain as her arm sizzles at his touch. She yanks her arm away and is left with a horrible purple hand mark on her arm. “I was hoping to capture you,” Manny says, spitting a glob of blood off to the side, “I’ll settle for your arm rotting off.” 

Mara stares at him, then grabs him by the shirt collar, “What did you do to me you prick!?” 

Manny coughs, “I’m a rot-rot fruit eater  _ bitch _ . If you don’t get that arm taken care off, it’ll rot off. Maybe even kill you. God wouldn’t that be nice.” Mara snarls fiercely before throwing Manny on the ground and kicking him in the head, knocking him out. He had grabbed her left arm. So maybe she could burn off the rot with her right hand. It would at least stop it from spreading.

Mara’s hand glows red and she reaches for the purple mark on her arm. Someone shouts in the distance and now light flickered here and there. Damn it there was no time. She’d have to steal a boat and fix her arm then. It wouldn’t kill her. She knew it wouldn’t. She was also confident she could get it to stop with the supplies she had in her bag. Mara looks around before running to the nearest fishing boat and unties it from the docks. It’ll have to do. She didn’t have much of choice. She jumps in the boat and shoves off as hard as she can before grabbing the paddle and rowing as fast as she could. By the time the Marines finally reached where she was on the dock she had gotten a decent distance from them, but they still took shots at her. Mara winces as a bullet grazes her shoulder and just barely dodges one as it flies over her head. She reaches into her bag and fishes around for something. Anything. She finds a spherical object. Oh right. She forgot she had some of these in here. Damn good thing she found out before getting her bag soaked in sea water. Pure sodium was  _ very _ reactive with water. She pulls a silver ball out from her bag and stands up. “This ought to be interesting.” She rears back and throws the ball at the nearest boat, aiming for the water below it, then ducks for cover in her own little boat. The ball hits the water and with a sudden explosion the ship, a simple navy boat, now has a large hole in its side as multiple explosions are set off from the sodium. It was a decent sized ball and would continue to cause havoc for a few seconds more. The Marines halted at the docks and some of them rushed to stop the ship from taking on water. Mara throws another ball, this time towards the Marines. It hits the water and explodes much like the first one. She throws one final ball, just to get it out of her bag, then goes back to rowing. The nice thing about these sodium balls was that their explosions kicked up a nice cloud of fog for her to escape through. The marines didn’t have a clear shot and by the time the smoke cleared Mara had risen the sail of her little boat and had taken off, the wind in her favor as she enters the thick fog.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know, writing this shit is fun. Also only a chapter or two left before we hit the canon timeline.


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “A dragon! Out of everything I could have run into it’s a fucking dragon!?”

Chapter Four

Mara yells out in pain as she pours a teal liquid onto her injury, washing away the rotting skin. She hisses and inhales sharply, breathing heavily. She was in the middle of a dense fog, heading in what she hoped was the right directions. Without the stars she’d be unable to figure out where she was. During the short time she had been on the boat she made a healing potion with the ingredients she had left. Thank the stars she had enough to use on her arm. It hurt like hell, but it meant she wouldn’t have to burn her skin. The potion she made would stop the rot from spreading, but she still needed to take care of the wound itself. Her arm had a hand-shaped mark on it and was a purple and darkening red color. Mara grimaces. The potion hurt like hell, more than the injury itself, but she had endured worse before. The teal liquid bubbles on her skin, eating away at the rotting flesh. She sighs and wraps cloth around her injury. She’d have to change the bandages pretty quickly, but it was better than leaving the injury exposed.

Once Mara had her arm taken care of she took to exploring the boat she had stolen. It was a fishing sailboat, large enough to transport about three people. It had a small below-deck area with a tiny kitchen, a bed, and some storage. Overall it was a fantastic find. There was even extra provisions and water stored away, too! Which was a great thing, because upon inspection of her backpack Mara had found all of her provisions had rotted and the bag itself was completely ruined. Thankfully her alchemy set and reagents hadn’t been affected, as they were in a separate container within the bag. She did, however, use all of her remaining ingredients (the non-poisonous ones, of course) to make the healing potion. Satisfied with her search of the boat, she returns above deck. She still had another hour before the sun rose and the fog parted, so all she had to do until then was survive.

The wait was boring and uneventful. Mara had expected dangers to be thrown at her, for marines to show up and attempt to apprehend her but… nothing. The sun rose and the fog parted. Honestly, it made Mara feel uncomfortable, with everything going so well. She wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, though, so she accepted her current status and directed the boat towards Punk Hazard, using the sun as her guide.

——

The currents bobbed the boat along. The blaring brightness of the burning shores of Punk Hazard loomed ahead of Mara’s boat. She groans and lifts her head from a box. She yawns and stretches before standing up. Apparently Mara had fallen asleep. Oh well. She had managed to get here at least. She takes control of the boat’s wheel and sets off towards the shore.

—— 

“Ouch!” Mara exclaims, wincing in pain as she pours the remainder of the teal potion onto her arm. It had taken her about an hour to find a safe route to the shores, then a half hour more to find a decent place to dock the boat so it wouldn’t burn to ashes while she explored the island. Mara sighs. She had grabbed a new bag from the boat and restocked her provisions before actually getting to the island, but it wasn’t the same as her blue bag. Her “new” bag was a dirty old shoulder bag that had a few holes in it. Mara had stitched it up with the remains of her blue bag, but the thing was still hideous. She was quite ticked off that that man had managed to rot her bag. He’d pay for that if they ever ran into each other again. In fact, Mara was looking forward to running into him again. Only this time she would have an exciting potion to try on him. Well, whatever. She needed to get moving. This heat was starting to drive her crazy.

Mara scrunches up her skirt and ties it off on the side to keep herself from overheating. She reaches to change her shirt tugs it off, revealing a lovely tank-top she wore underneath. She ties her shirt around her shoulders by the sleeves like a cape. “Alright,” Mara nods, “Let’s get moving.” She marches forward towards the center of the island. God this side of the island was hot. She could feel her damn tail starting to sweat. Thick fur and heat don’t work well.

After a while of walking and navigating the smouldering remains of… whatever used to be here, Mara pauses. Her ears flick to different directions as she listens. Was someone there? The sounds of crackling fire and the smell of sulfur were messing with her senses. This place was supposed to be abandoned anyway. She was just tense and overheating. Mara continues to walk. After a few more steps she stops again. Okay this time she definitely heard something. It was a sort of flapping sound, like there was a large bird nearby. But then she heard a louder noise. A roar. She grits her teeth and looks in the direction of the sound. Mara groans and throws her hands in the air, “Oh for the love of the sun, moon, and stars, a _ dragon!? _” The red beast roars once more as it spots Mara. The wolf-girl’s eyes widen and she spins around and starts to run.

“A dragon! Out of everything I could have run into it’s a fucking _ dragon!?” _She shrieks, picking up her pace, “This place is supposed to be abandoned! Waaaaah!”

Mara runs as fast as her legs can carry her towards the white landscape on the other side of the island. She had to lose the dragon before reaching the other side or there would be nowhere for the raven-haired wolf-girl to hide. Gah! There weren’t enough stable shadows here! With all the fire and light from the lava there wasn’t a decent shadow Mara could slip into while she ran. Sure, she had this super cool power, but she still wasn’t very good at using it! She growls in annoyance and jumps behind a wall in a melted-down alleyway that was shrouded in a thick cloud of smoke. There was enough stable shadows here to hide in so that’s exactly what Mara did. She sits in the shadows and catches her breath. She pouts. She really wanted to get a scale off that dragon now. It would have to wait.

After a quick break and a glance around her surroundings, Mara determines the dragon to be gone and exits her hiding place. She looks around. In the distance she could see tall white mountains. “That’s the way to go, then,” Says Mara as she starts to walk again. Her head was starting to ache. The heat was likely getting to her. She starts to hum a cute little tune with no real direction to it. Nonsense sounds that were put together and sounded nice was all it was. Now that the dragon was gone she felt much more peaceful. She even felt cooler, too! There was a breeze of cold air blowing in her direction from the icy plains of the frozen half of the island. So close. So close to getting her answers. She’d absorb the residual energy of the grand battle and learn what her mother’s journal held. If there was any energy left. If not she’d have to start her search again. Or find those Strawhats that Silvers guy had told her about. She was hoping she didn’t have to. She didn’t want to meet anybody new right now, nor did she feel like explaining to these new people that they needed to risk their lives in a dangerous battle for her to be able to read a book.

After about a half hour Mara reaches the large river that runs through the center of the island. She takes the chance and crosses the river via icy platforms upon the water. Upon reaching the snowy shore she buried herself in the snow. Honestly, she’d rather be cold than in intense heat. Plus on this side of the island she had a better chance of her book not burning to ashes. She puts her shirt back on and unties the knot in her skirt, then shakes off the snow begins to make her way towards the very center of the island, which consisted of the large lake. 

After a few moments she pauses and looks around. Her head was still aching, but now that she wasn’t engulfed in a volcanic cacophony of senses she had a clearer mind. Through the breeze of the cold island she could smell something different. It wasn’t something she could put her finger on. It was the combined smell of animal and human, but it was faint. She takes a quick look around. It didn’t _ look _ like anyone was around. This place was supposed to be completely abandoned, right? Well, there was the dragon, which she found odd. Maybe there are people here. Mara scowls and grabs her hat from her bag before cramming it onto her head. If there were indeed people she didn’t want to be caught with her ears exposed. She continues on her way with an uneasy feeling. 

—— 

“Halt!” Someone shouts. There is a click of loaded guns. Mara freezes and turns towards the voice. She hadn’t made it very far before all of a sudden she was surrounded by a group. How had she not sensed them until now? How had she not heard them? Man her head was really starting to throb. She prayed she wasn’t getting sick. Mara looks around at the people who had stopped her. They were… weird. They were super weird! They all _ looked _human, but they all had legs of different animals! There was one guy that had goat legs and several with the bottom half of a horse, like centaurs! She hesitates. Were there really people as strange as her out here? 

She looks at the goat man, who looked to be their leader. He steps forward, gun in hand. “Who are you and what are you doing here?” He demands.

Mara folds her hands in front of her and looks at the ground, her face reflecting a sweet and sheepish look. “I, um. I’m Grimm Curiosity and well, I was curious,” Mara begins, “I was curious to see the island, because, um, you know, the place was changed from the battle of the admirals and I wanted to study the, um.. Landscape..”

Mara looks up at the goat man with big eyes, “I didn’t know there were people still here…”

The man pauses and takes another cautious step towards her, “Well, Miss Grimm, we will have to take you with us to see our boss. He’s very protective of his home and people and will surely punish us if we do not report you.”

Mara waves her hand at him, holding her head with the other hand, suddenly feeling very faint. “Yeah, yeah, sure.”

“Miss? Miss Grimm are you okay?” The goat man asks, concern lacing his voice. He holsters his gun and places a hand on her forehead, gasping, “You’re burning up! We need to get you to the master quickly!”

“Sir, her arm!” One of the subordinates exclaims, pointing at the injury on Mara’s arm. The goat man lifts her left arm and gasps again, dropping it. The bandages were soaked with blood and starting to drip.

_ “Shit… The potion... The rot is all gone, but it wore off before healing my actual arm.” _ Mara bends over in pain, _ “Ugh.. Why does my head hurt so bad, though!?” _ Her vision was starting to blur. Soon the goat man is stuck holding her up, “Shit, this is bad! She probably walked through a cloud of poison. We’ve got to take her to _ him _!”

“_ Him!? _ But he’s so… so… _ mean! _ Would he really help her!?” Says another man.

“We don’t have a choice! Right now boss is still sleeping! You know how cranky he gets after being woken up!” Replies the goat man.

Mara groans. It was getting harder to stay awake. Let’s hope whoever these people were talking about was a doctor, because damn. She really underestimated her injury. She didn’t have much choice anymore but to rely on these people. The good news was a full moon was approaching. If they tried to lock her up, she’d be able to escape then. For now, however, she was gonna pass out. Mara folds forward into the man’s arms as her vision darkens and her senses fade.

———————— 

Mara stirs, rolling to her side. She was someplace different now. Someplace warmer. Well, slightly warmer. She didn’t really feel like moving yet, so she took a look at what she could see. From her position on the bed she could see… A wall. That was it. She frowns. She didn’t want to move because now she was comfy and her head didn’t hurt anymore. She shifts so she’s laying on her back again, then pauses. There were voices nearby, but they were faint. She strains her ears to make out the sounds. “...better.. But don’t go telling Clown anything yet...” There was a new voice she hadn’t heard yet. It was a husky masculine voice that held clear annoyance. Was that the guy the goat man was talking about? There was a bit of babbling that Mara couldn’t catch followed by the creek of a door, footsteps, then the door was shut. Mara turns her head towards the sounds and her eyes bulge, practically shooting from her head. She sits up quickly, causing her head and vision to swim. The man grumbles and hurries over to her as she flops back down on the bed, covering her face with her hands.

“Hey! Be careful, would you? You’re not completely healed!” He scolds her.

Mara starts to laugh lightly. The man seems taken aback and frowns, “Oi are you listening to me? What the heck were you thinking going around with an injury that serious? And not to mention the poison in your system that I had to remove! It could still be affecting your body!”

Mara grins, “...Oh my god you’re so bossy. You haven’t changed a bit.”

The man looks truly confused and opens his mouth to scold her again.

She waves a hand in his face, shutting him up, then drops it to her side. She looks at the man with the speckled hat through glittering blue eyes;

“Long time no see, _ Truffles _.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eyyyyyy Take a guess who Truffles is ;)


	5. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Mara?” Law balks, “I thought you were dead.”  
“I thought you were dead!” Mara exclaims. She throws her arms around him in a weak hug before falling off the bed

Chapter Five

Mara watches Trafalgar Law with a big grin on her face as realization hits his own. Her tail thumps against the bed.

“Mara?” Law balks, “I thought you were dead.”

“I thought _ you _ were dead!” Mara exclaims. She throws her arms around him in a weak hug before falling off the bed. Law staggers back, struggling to catch her. He sighs and helps her back onto the bed. “Be careful, would you? Your arm is still healing. What happened to it anyways?”

Mara’s tail pauses momentarily before starting up again, “Some asshole tried to rot my arm. Where are we?” 

“Rot your arm? I suppose that explains why it was rotting. Did you get attacked by a devil fruit user?” Law asks.

Mara sighs, then replies: “Yes. He was an asshole and a corrupt marine. Had I not been in a hurry I would have ripped his head off. Now where are we?”

Law scowls. “Punk Hazard” he replies.

“I know that, dummy. I mean where are we _ specifically _.”

“My room.”

“And your room is where?”

Law sighs, rubbing his temple. “In a lab in the snowy mountain area.” 

Mara tilts her head to the side, waiting expectantly for more information. When he doesn’t keep talking she lowers her head and looks up at him with a frown. Law looks back at her with his arms folded, “Why are you here, Mara?”

“My journal-- my journal! My things! Where are they?” Mara exclaims, trying to hop off the bed. 

Law shoves her back, “They’re fine calm down! What about your journal?”

Mara huffs and wiggles her nose, “It was my mother’s journal. I’m trying to translate it. I’m hoping it has info on what I am.” 

Law gives her a puzzled look before grabbing her bag from a desk. He pulls out her journal and hands it to her. “What do you mean ‘what you are?’ I mean I know you’re not normal, but being a mink-hybrid isn’t a bad thing.”

Mara shakes her head and opens up the journal to the first page, “I don’t think I’m a mink, Law. I’m not even sure if I’m human.”

Law furrows his brow. “What do you mean? You certainly look like a human-mink hybrid.”

“A letter to me was written on the first page, supposedly by my mother. Shall I read it to you?” 

“No, that won’t be—“

Mara cuts him off and begins to read:

“Dear Mara, happy 16th birthday. I want you to know I love you so much… ugh blah blah blah… I know your life must have been hard up to this point but hold tight, blah blah blah... You are not a monster. You are a very special girl with a very special family,” She pauses and sighs. “Inside this journal you will learn of your true heritage. However, in order to keep this journal’s contents from prying eyes I have cast a spell upon it. From the ashes of a grand battle you must let the book absorb the energy of the fight. From then on you will be on your own. Good luck my little devil dog. I love you.”

Law creases his eyebrows and scratches the side of his head, “A spell? Devil dog?”   
Mara huffs and closes the book, “Magic exists apparently. Outside of devil fruits. Don’t bother asking questions because I don’t have answers.” She opens the book again, to a page of squiggles and smudges, “I’m not sure how I’m supposed to let the book ‘absorb energy of a fight’ but I was hoping I’d be able to figure it out after I got here.”   
Law looks down at the page, “Is there really nothing else in this book you can read?”

“Um,” Mara flips through the book, “Well, I keep seeing the alchemy symbol, so I have a feeling alchemy runs in the family. I used to have that silver necklace that had an alchemy symbol on it. I had it with me when I showed up at the orphanage as a baby so it must have been my mother's. It’s what got me curious about alchemy in the first place. I looked up the symbol in our local library and just… kept reading and learning more about it. Unfortunately the necklace was taken from me when the church took me.”

“When the church took you?” Law repeats.

Mara gives him a sad somber smile. “A lot has happened since we last met. I don’t really want to talk about it right now. I’ve kind of blocked out those memories and I’d rather focus on the journal rather than childhood trauma.”

“Fair enough, I suppose. I won’t press,” Law walks over to his desk, searching through some pages before examining a few. He sits down at the desk and starts to write notes and fill out papers. They are both silent while Law works before Mara starts to feel restless. She presses her feet on the floor and stands up, using the bed frame for support. Law gives her a disapproving look and she scrunches her nose at him. He sighs and gets back to his paperwork.  
“We need to discuss what to do next. It would be better for Clown to not know you’re here, but we should come up with a story for if they find out. I suppose I could say you’re one of my subordinates—”

Mara whirls to face him. She spins a little too fast and plops down on the bed. “Clown? As in Caesar Clown?” 

Law sighs and shoves the papers aside before looking at Mara. “Stop trying to get up.”

Mara gives him a serious look. “Answer the question.”   
“Yes, Caesar Clown. I’m surprised you know him. Why?” Law was surprised by Mara’s sudden mood change. She had been happy-go-lucky and curious a moment ago. He studies her face during the silence that hangs between his question.

“You’re working for him?” she asks softly.

Law gives her a confused look. “No, not really. We have a… mutual agreement, I suppose. I can’t tell you the real reason I’m here, not yet, but no, I’m not working for him.”  
“Do you know what he does to people?” she pauses and balls her hands into fists, staring down at her lap. “To whatever he can get his hands on?”

“He’s a mad scientist with a superiority complex. I mean, I know he’s done bad things,” Law wheels his chair closer to Mara, “But I have a feeling you mean something more, don’t you?”

She lowers her gaze further and claws gently at her back. “A lot of what I went through after you thought I died was run by him. If he figures out I’m here he might try to use me again.”   
Law clenches his fists and scowls. He takes a deep breath. He had only taken a look at Mara’s arm during his examination of her, but there were scars he noticed that looked more like carvings into the skin. They looked old and most were very faded, but they were there. Just what had happened to the curious girl he met as a kid? 

Law wheels his chair in front of Mara, “I won’t let that happen. I don’t like him either, trust me. I’m just using him to get what I want. We’ll have to keep your ears and tail hidden from him.” 

Mara look at him then covers herself with the blanket. She shifts under the covers before poking a black snoot out of the white sheet. “He doesn’t know about this form. Claim the girl his lacky’s brought here died and you promised to take care of her dog.”

Law stares at the nose, confused and slightly concerned. “I’m sorry, what?”  
Mara sits up. Law wheels away from the bed staring at the grand figure before him. The blanket falls from Mara’s body revealing her in her huge wolf form. In front of Law now sits a large wolf as black as night with blue-teal eyes. 

“Is this why your mom called you her devil dog in the letter?” He asks, startled.

Mara shrugs. “I’m not sure? I guess I do look rather frightening in this form, not to mention how startling my eyes are in color. However I’m only this large because it’s almost a full moon.”

Law stands up and takes a closer look at her. “How are you doing that?”

“Doing what?” Mara replies, leaning away from him.

“Talking without moving your mouth.”

“If you haven’t noticed I don’t have lips.”

“Still, you shouldn’t be able to talk without moving your mouth, right?”

“Truffles, don’t question the magical talking wolf-girl.”

Law rolls his eyes and folds his arms before responding, “Well I suppose that’s true. Will you be alright in that form, though?”

Mara nods and hops onto the floor, making sure to stay off her injured leg.

“Hey, be careful Mara. You’re still injured.” Law scolds.

Mara groans, “I’ll be fine. I just won’t put pressure on the leg and whatever poison was in my system is not going to bother me anymore. Relax, Truffles.” 

Law rubs his temple. “You have not changed a bit Mara.” 

Mara ga-ruffs. “Hey I have changed. I’m stronger and much smarter than I used to be, thank you very much.”  
“That remains to be seen, curious girl,” Law replies, raising an eyebrow. He pauses, thinking over Mara’s words. “Why does your form change based on the moon cycle?”

“Again, I’m not sure. All I know is that I’m strongest during a full moon. I don’t get weakened or anything during the other moon cycles, I think. The only real change I’ve noticed is that my wolf form changes size based on the phases of the moon. On a new moon I’m slightly smaller than an average wolf. When a full moon hits I’m about the size of a polar bear.”  
“You already seem as large as a polar bear.”  
“The full moon isn’t for another week, so no, I’m not.”  
“I thought you said it was soon?”  
“A week is soon, Truffs.”  
Law pinches the bridge of his nose with a sigh. “Okay so what happens on the full moon?”  
Mara wiggles her nose and paws at her shadow. It moves with her paw, stretching.“I’m able to do more stuff with my powers, but it gets kinda difficult to control. I get anxious, too, but that’s for a different reason. I usually lock myself in a room and stay away from any and all people. It’ll be easier for you to understand when you see it."  
“So you get anxiety and... magic?”  
“No, I get anxiety, my appearance changes, and my _powers_ amplify.”  
“Powers? You mean that burning thing you can do with your hand?”  
Mara sits at the base of the bed “Oh, I suppose I never explained everything when we were kids, did I? To an extent I guess you could say I can manipulate shadows. In all honesty I’m not very good at it, which sucks because I’ve been practicing the past five years and the most I can do is drag around my own shadow and hide in steady shadows. If the shadow isn’t stable, like if the shadow is cast due to a flickering candle it’s hard to sit in. I also can’t hide in shadows smaller than myself very easily. Actually, I can do this, too…”   
She holds a paw over Law’s shadow, specifically over where his shoulder would be. The surface darkens to a solid black and a dark tendril begins to rise from the floor. It wiggles around before splashing back down onto the black splotch, causing it to behave like water. Mara sets her paw down and the spot on Law’s shadow returns to normal. She looks up at him, “It’s something that happens on a full moon when I’m unable to control it… It’s almost like it’s alive or something the way it behaves. It slithers around like snakes…”  
Law reaches down and touches the spot where his shadow had changed, then sits back up and clutches his shoulder. “Fascinating,” he says after a moment. He stands up abruptly, startling Mara. “I’m not quite sure how to process all this right now so I’m going to leave and get food and god I could seriously use some coffee right now. I still have the whole day of dealing with that babbling asshole. You’re staying here.”  
Mara does a double take at him, “What? That’s so unfair! I can just hide in your shadow or something!”

“I need time to think about all this information, Mara. It… changes things in my plan. Not very much, mind you, but now I have a few more things to do that I need to think on. Are you really sure you’re not a devil fruit user? You’ve got to understand that by all means you really should be impossible.”  
“Do you want me to do a back-flip underwater to prove it?” Mara quips.  
“Just give me some time, Mara. If I tell you I’ll help you with your journal thing later will you calm down?”

Mara sighs and looks annoyed. There is, however, a certain spark in her eyes now. “Fine. But why can’t I go with you?”  
“As I’ve told you--” he stresses, “ _multiple times,_ you are still not fully healed. You can be patient for a little while longer..” He grabs a bag off the counter and slings it over his shoulder before grabbing his terribly large sword and heading towards the door.  
“Bring me some food and random reagents to mess with, then! Or I’ll sneak out of the room through the shadows then you’ll _never_ find me!” Mara barks.  
Law grumbles, annoyance ticking at his forehead. “Fine. Just stop talking and act like a normal dog until I get back.”  
Mara barks in response. Law sighs and reaches for the door handle and pauses. He looks back at the black wolf in his room. She was climbing back onto the bed and curling up into a little ball. Law sighs again, then leaves the room.   
He almost couldn’t believe she was here. They had met as children when she was a patient in his parents’ clinic, but after she left he never saw her again and when he tried to seek her out at her orphanage he was told she was dead. Now 16 years later here she was here on Punk Hazard very much alive. 

_ ‘She really hasn’t changed at all.’ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually had a lot of difficulty with this chapter lol. It took me a while to figure it out, but I like how it turned out. I may go back and edit a few grammar things, though.


End file.
